


Jenna Clara Coleman

by PrincessDarcy_of_Asgard



Series: The Adventures of Jenna and the Doctor [1]
Category: British Actor RPF, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Echo!Jenna-Louise Coleman, F/M, Jenna Coleman as an Echo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-28
Updated: 2015-10-28
Packaged: 2018-04-28 10:53:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5087911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrincessDarcy_of_Asgard/pseuds/PrincessDarcy_of_Asgard
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jenna's had to move back home and has a dream that is hanging on by the barest of threads.  It seems like this is the course she is bound to take until a stranger with a blue box rescues her in every sense.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Jenna Clara Coleman

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, this is very AU. I've taken some liberties and incorporated features from Clara and Jenna as well as some things I just thought would be cool. I hope you enjoy it.

It had been twenty five years since her father took a job, moving them clear across the Atlantic to America and Jenna had few proper memories of England. She did however recall the feeling of dew covered grass crushing under her feet as she chased a stray cat around their garden and how her play had been interrupted by the din of screeching tires and shouts. Jenna remembered standing quietly between her brother Ben and their father as some men lowered a big box into the ground. Most vivid was Jenna's memory of her bafflement that first night her mummy wasn't there to tuck her into bed. But even these lived in the back of her mind as all early childhood memories did.

Jenna's life was in Orlando, with all its heat, bustle and tourist traffic. It wasn't such an awful town despite all that. Yes, her career had never taken off like expected but Dad had been glad to let her come home and while she wasn't on the stage or screen herself Jenna had plenty to watch. Awaiting a call from Phantasmagoria Orlando gave the young woman something to look forward to while she sold tchotchkes to fanny pack wearing vacationers.

Closing time had come and gone. Jenna locked up and made her way to her car. The parking lot was well lit and there were some stragglers leaving the neighboring businesses. It wasn't a scene one would typically find creepy but still Jenna felt as though there were eyes on her. The lone woman gripped a key between her knuckles and hurried on, tossing her things into the back seat before unlocking the driver's side door. As she pushed the key into the lock a bird swooped down from one of the lightpoles, coming close enough to ruffle Jenna's hair. She did scream but jumped out of her skin, break the key cleanly in two.

"Damn it!" It was the only copy she had. Even if she climbed in through the backseat there would be no way to start the car. With a sigh Jenna reviewed her options. She could call her Dad and wake him after a long day, or she could take the bus. At twenty nine it pained her to run to daddy when a problem arose, as they had a way of doing. The bus it was. Jenna grabbed her purse and headed toward the bus stop at the end of the block.

Each streetlamp created an island of light, between them lay patches of darkness. Jenna moved quickly as she could without actually breaking into a run. The dark didn't bother her but the sensation of being watched lingered and that was what made her afraid.

When she stepped into the light once more a hand shot out, grasping her arm. Jenna's resulting scream was smothered. The rough fabric of the assailant's glove pressed into her lips as he pulled her behind the building nearest them.

"You won't get hurt if you do what you're told." His voiced oozed forth, stinking of liquor and cheap smokes.

To hell with that, Jenna thought before biting down hard on the hand that still kept her quiet. She tasted blood and the assailant howled in pain, striking back wildly. Jenna ducked which only made him angrier. He reached into his pocket for something. A knife? A gun? The girl wasn't waiting to find out.

He caught Jenna by the coattails as she darted away, yanking her violently back. Jenna's foot caught in a pothole, sending her headfirst into the brick wall a couple feet away. Agony blossomed through the woman's skull and something cracked. Whether it was her head or her ankle she didn't know. Neither mattered at the moment. What mattered was the figure looming over her, drawing a booted foot back for what Jenna feared would be a hefty kick.

Before the blow could fall, cool unconsciousness began to envelope Jenna. She stared into the eyes of her attacker, glaring as viciously as she could.

The last thing Jenna saw was his face smeared with blood from the wound on his hand. The last thing she heard was an odd sound like the creaking of bellows and unoiled gears. Jenna could have sworn she'd heard it before.

* * *

 

Rather than take inventory of her injuries Jenna decided it was easier to count the bits that were in fact not sore. Her ankle and head certainly weren't in that number.

Judging by the soft mattress on which the woman lay it was clear she had been taken from the spot where she fell, but this certainly wasn't a hospital.

It pained Jenna to open her eyes yet she did so. The room was strangely familiar. The furniture was what people now called 'shabby chic', three of the walls were painted powder blue. When Jenna moved her gaze from the dresser to a mural on the adjacent wall she understood. There was the night sky rendered in deepest purple and the stars composing Orion done in a silver that didn't do their true colors justice. This was her old room-from their house in Blackpool.

"Finally awake." A Scottish brogue sounded from the other side of the bed. Jenna turned her head to look at the speaker, a handsome man with a mess of short, gray curls. He wore a wrinkled black hoodie and looked weary but relieved all the same.

"Where am I? It looks like my room but it isn't." Jenna croaked. The stranger handed her a glass of water. As she drank, he spoke.

"You're in the TARDIS. It selected a setting you'd find comforting."

"Right. You'll have to explain what all that means after you tell me who you are." She managed to replace the empty glass without aid.

"I'm the Doctor." He intoned as if he'd done so a thousand times before.

"Doctor who?" Jenna asked, puzzled. The Doctor gave a wry smile.

"Just 'The Doctor'."

"I'm guessing you know who I am."

"Quite. Jenna Clara Coleman. Born April 27, 2001 in Blackpool, Lancashire. You're a cashier at a gift shop, you live with your father, your favorite color is burgundy."

Jenna swallowed. She ought to think the Doctor's knowledge of her strange, even frightening, but she couldn't find it in herself to feel threatened by him.

"The TARDIS," He continued, "Is my ship." The Doctor offered a brief explanation of what he was and how the TARDIS traveled through both space and time.

"Aha! I knew something was out there." The girl grinned weakly. She tried to sit up to get a better look at the Doctor but was driven back by a sharp pain in her chest. He winced along with her.

"I patched you up as well as I could without removing any clothing but you've got a broken rib or two..." The Doctor trailed off, brushing a hand through his hair. "The TARDIS brought me there but I should have got to you sooner."

An actual alien had come to her rescue. It was fantastic, unbelievable and yet she believed him. She believed IN him without qualification. That he was experiencing guilt over the whole thing seemed mindboggling to her. She was saved and that was enough.

"What happened to the man?" Jenna asked.

The Doctor's face briefly contorted in disgust and rage. "He won't be hurting you or anyone else again."

"Excellent." However wrong it was, she hoped her assailant was lying prone and in anguish or worse.

"When you feel well enough you should have a bath.  You smell awful." He wrinkled his nose for emphasis.

"I've brought a crutch since your ankle's broken.  Washroom is right over there." The Doctor pointed across the room at a door that Jenna had yet to notice. 

"Thanks for the not so subtle criticism of my hygiene. Maybe a nap and then I'll go get the stink off." The girl countered with as much cheek as she could muster. 

"Alright.  I'll leave you to it." The Doctor rose to leave. "Goodnight, Jenna Coleman." He sighed, closing the door behind him. She was already asleep.

* * *

 

 When she woke, Jenna noticed that the pain in her head and ribs was diminished.  Whatever the Doctor had done was working.  Her ankle still hurt like hell but Jenna felt up to bathing, as per her host's suggestion. 

Hobbling over to the bathroom was arduous but she got there, not bothering to close the door before peeling off her ruined clothing.  

The room was immaculate, small and simple, the fixtures all gleaming porcelain and stainless steel.  Inside the medicine cabinet Jenna found an assortment of toiletries and medications and which the very human woman found surprising not her extraterrestrial host.  It quickly occurred to her that if the TARDIS could create a room from her memories, it was probably capable of producing aspirin and toothpaste.  

Jenna swallowed two of the pills and washed them down with several gulps of water from the tap.  Whether they would ease her remaining aches remained to be seen but taking something seemed like the proper thing to do in her situation.

Twenty minutes and a tub of steaming water later Jenna was not only cleaned up but had managed not to bust ass on the slick tile floor.  

The dresser contained an assortment of blue jeans, blouses, dresses and other presentable things.  Instead of these she chose a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt.  Comfort was key at the moment.  If the Doctor didn't approve of the modest attire that was his problem.

What to do now?  Her rumbling stomach suggested getting something to eat would be a fine idea but Jenna hadn't a clue where the kitchen would be (if there were one).  The last thing she needed was to get lost wandering around like a stray pup in search of food.  She took up her crutch, intending to poke her head out the door and call for the Doctor.  Before she could get up, a knock announced his arrival.

"Come in!" Jenna answered.  He entered wearing the same clothes and looking as haggard as before. 

"I didn't expect you'd be up so soon.  It was a horrible beating you took." The Doctor remarked with something like admiration.

"Heh.  Yeah, good for me." Jenna scoffed.

"I got you some chicken and chips." He declared awkwardly, handing over the foam dish he held.

"You don't eat?" The woman asked through a mouthful of potato.  

"Not as much as you people do."

Was that some sort of jab?  Either way, Jenna suspected the Doctor's unusual eating habits may have more to do with mood than species.

"Want some?" She offered, holding the dish out.  The Doctor looked at her dubiously for a moment before plucking up a chip.

"We call them 'fries' here, by the way."

"Silly Americans with your names for things..." He quipped.  

"Says the Time Lord?" Jenna snickered.

"Aye." The Doctor smiled, not widely by any means but it was the first time his guest had seem him do so.  It thrilled her. 

"So why am I here?  Do you always run around playing vigilante?"

"The TARDIS brought me to you of her own accord.  It happens on occasion. And yes, you could say that."

"You could have just dropped me at a hospital." Jenna stated with a shrug.

"Not after that.  Besides, your doctors are dreadful quacks."

"As opposed to you-the man whose name is literally _Doctor_."

* * *

 

They ate, they talked.  The Doctor told Jenna a bit more about Gallifrey and some of his adventures.  She told him about moving to the States, the plays she'd been in and the time she worked as a costumed character at Disney World.  

The entire time the Doctor wondered whether the ought to tell the girl what she was.  Would she be able to handle it?  After barely blinking at everything thus far, of course she'd be alright.  

The connection between him and the Echoes was there. He could feel it tugging at both of his hearts, intensified by the circumstances in which he had found Jenna.  She ought to be sensing it too.  How else could the human woman be so unphased by all...this? Jenna Coleman knew the Doctor, she just didn't understand how.  But she would.  She deserved to. 

His face grew sober or more so than it already was.  Jenna stowed her drink on the nightstand and sat up straight.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Sort of. Its a bit complicated." 

"You're a genius from a galaxy far far away.  Come on, now." She smiled reassuringly.

"Right.  Well, you remember the girl I mentioned, the one called Clara?  You're quite alike, with your middle name and other things besides. Its not a coincidence." 

Jenna was perplexed but didn't interrupt as the Doctor told of the Impossible Girl and how she saved him, breaking herself into the Echoes that were now spread across his timeline.

It was the truth, the sort of truth you feel deep within your bones.  Jenna should cry or shout or something.  That would be the normal reaction but then again what was normal about her?  She was as the Doctor had said: impossible.  Instead of losing it Jenna grinned.

"I'm not an idiot for trusting you then."

"You aren't safe with me but I would never hurt you."

She reached out for his hand.  The Doctor flinched and for a moment Jenna feared she had overstepped.  Before the girl could draw her hand back the Doctor took it in both of his, the hold snug but gentle.

"I know." She replied finally.

* * *

 

Jenna healed quickly and before long it was time to have a conversation they had both been putting off for fear of an undesirable outcome.  She sat on the edge of her bed, looking at the mural and waiting for him to ask her.  He sat closely beside her.

"I could take you home." 

"Yeah. You could." Jenna frowned.

"But if you don't want to go...that would be alright."

As she spoke, Jenna continued gazing forward.  "I'm not her."

"Of course not.  I'm an idiot but not a complete one." The Doctor scoffed, eliciting a snicker from the girl. 

"My Dad wouldn't take it well." 

"So don't tell him.  I could always take you back and he'd be none the wiser." 

It made crazy, stupid, convenient sense.

"Is this a one time thing?" If it were, Jenna knew shed rather just go home.

"Jenna Coleman, you can stay as long as you like."

"Good!" She said brightly, leaping off the bed. "Where to?" 

The Doctor rose as well, a roguish grin spread across his face.  "Newbie's choice."


End file.
